4.pptx

Software Project Management
1
Project Environment

A few words about the Project
Environment?
• Spectrum of Project Organizations
– Strong / weak
– Maturity level
– Logical form vs. Physical form
– Roles, Responsibilities, Authority, Accountability
– Global/Virtual teams & organizations
• Company Culture
2

Organizational Structure
Consists of three key elements:
1. Designates formal reporting relationships
– number of levels in the hierarchy
– span of control
2. Groupings of:
– individuals into departments
– departments into the total organization
3. Design of systems for
– effective communication
– coordination
– integration across departments

Forms of Organizational Structure
• Functional organizations – group people
performing similar activities into departments
• Project organizations – group people into
project teams on temporary assignments
• Matrix organizations – create a dual hierarchy
in which functions and projects have equal
prominence

Functional Structures for Project Management
Strengths Weaknesses
1. Firm’s design maintained
2. Fosters development of in-
depth knowledge
3. Standard career paths
4. Project team members remain
connected with their functional
group
1. Functional siloing
2. Lack of customer focus
3. Projects may take longer
4. Projects may be sub-optimized

Matrix Organization
President
Research and
Development
Engineering Manufacturing Marketing
Manager
Project A
Manager
Project B
Manager
Project C
7

Matrix Structures for Project Management
1. Suited to dynamic
environments
2. Equal emphasis on project
management and functional
efficiency
3. Promotes coordination across
functional units
4. Maximizes scarce resources
1. Dual hierarchies mean two
bosses
2. Negotiation required in order
to share resources
3. Workers caught between
competing project & functional
demands

Project Structures for Project Management
1. Project manager sole authority
2. Improved communication
3. Effective decision-making
4. Creation of project
management experts
5. Rapid response
1. Expensive to set up and
maintain teams
2. Chance of loyalty to the
project rather than the firm
3. No pool of specific knowledge
4. Workers unassigned at project
end

Heavyweight Project Organizations
• Project manager authority expanded
• Functional alignment abandoned in favor of market
opportunism
• Focus on external customer
• A Mature Organization
• Project Management Office (PMO)
11

Project Management Offices (PMO)
• Centralized units that oversee or improve the
management of projects
• Resource centers for:
– Technical details
– Expertise
– Repository
– Center for excellence

Forms of PMOs
• Weather station – monitoring and tracking
• Control tower – project management is a skill
to be protected and supported
• Resource pool – maintain and provide a cadre
of skilled project professionals

Factors/Tips in Selecting a Structure
• The number of projects and their relative
importance….low-> functional…high-> matrix
• The level of uncertainty in projects….the more
uncertainty (cost, schedule, scope) ,strong PM
can react quicker, exercise tighter control
therefore a Project Oriented structure is
preferred
• Type of technology used.
– With several/changing technologies Matrix
– New product, high uncertainty -> Project Oriented

• The Project Complexity….low complexity->
functional…high- complexity-> Project oriented
structure
• Duration of projects….short projects ->
matrix…Long projects -> project oriented
• Resources used by the Projects.
– If common resources are shared by 2 or more projects
-> Matrix with a functional bias
– If number of common resources being shared are low
-> Project oriented structure

Remember: Organizational structure can have a
major impact on project performance

What about the Organizational
Culture?
The unwritten rules of behavior, or norms that
are used to shape and guide behavior, is
shared by some subset of organization
members and is “taught” to all new members
of the company
17

Organizational Culture
• A system of shared norms, beliefs, values and
assumptions which bind people together,
thereby creating shared meanings
• The “personality” of the organization that sets
it apart from other organizations
- provides a sense of identity to its members
- Helps legitimize the management system of
the organization
- Clarifies and reinforces standards of behavior
18

Organizational Culture
Key factors that affect and or influence (shaping)
culture development:
– Technology (leading, bleeding, laggards, “early
adopters”, etc.)
– Environment
– Geographical location
– Reward systems
– Rules, regulations and procedures
– Key organizational members
– Critical incidents / Reaction to crises
– Ownership (private, public, government, etc.)
19

Culture Affects Project Management
• Departmental interaction
• Employee commitment to goals
• Project planning
• Performance evaluation
• Acceptance & Support of Change
• Bottom Line:
Organizational Culture can have a
major impact on project performance
20

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